Ypulse Essentials
Posted by anastasia on 05-07-2007Note from Anastasia: I'm heading off to Las Vegas to moderate a teen panel at The Cable Show. You can read the press release here. I may not get around to posting tomorrow…If not, I'll be back on Wednesday. I'm kind of excited to log a little poolside time at Mandalay Bay.
Is MTV headed for its own version of 'I Love The 80s?' (The Boston Globe wonders if the network "longer calls the cultural tune")
MySpace to buy Photobucket (it looks like the ecosystem may be getting smaller. Photobucket is also a sponsor of the 2007 Mashup) (ValleyWag)
- Parents worried about internet safety (it's number seven on a new poll of parents' concerns below teen pregnancy and above school violence…plus there is a growing digital divide between web 2.0 users and everyone else) (TechCrunch)
- Teenagers are old school (they've been around longer than you might think, according to Jon Savage's new book. Plus you can listen to Savage on Fresh Air - thanks Stacey!) (Media Life Magazine)
- Young adults like to text (according to Forrester: "Seventy-eight percent of cellphone subscribers ages 18 to 26 use data services") (New York Times, reg. required)
- Cheerleading no longer 'all-American' (Newsweek on how the sport is spreading internationally)
- X Box is the new 'foos ball' (for workplaces with lots of young employees) (Washington Post, reg. required)
- Celeb Spaces (A company called PathConnect is launching "networks" for Jessica Biel and Bode Miller)
- Stay Teen (Ypulse reader Jerry pointed out this site from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy)
May 7th, 2007 at 10:21 am
I am surprised to see yet again a cheerleading "plug". For a site to seeks to emancipate teens and their parents, and especially young female teens, I find this strange.
And a sport it is most definitely NOT. Yes you have to be athletic, and I am sure in good shape and health. But there are far better things to engage in then dressing up in ultra short skirts and spandex, and throwing your legs so high it leaves very little to the imagination. Go on girls… play soccer, baseball, go kick boxing, bowling, running or play golf if you must. Anything.
After the bra burning of the seventies it is time to do some chearleading-outfit burning in the new millenium.
May 7th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Hi Maarten. Thanks for your comment — Ypulse provides daily news & commentary about Generation Y for media and marketing professionals (that's the tagline). Cheerleading is considered a sport by many people and is also a multi-million dollar industry that primarily targets tween and teen girls. So if Newsweek is writing about a trend in cheerleading, I will link to that article.
As for my own personal views on cheerleading — I agree that the skirts may be skimpy and some of the routines too sexy, but I do think it required a lot of athleticism. There are also male cheerleaders…and a trend towards having cheerleaders at both boys' and girls' sports events.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Maarten -
Re "kick boxing"
It's better for girl to kick each other than to cheer-lead?
May 7th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I disagree with Maarten, who probably isn't familiar with modern cheerleading. The top teams incorporate advanced gymnastics and the routines are just as athletic as any other sport. You try boosting a girl up into the air with just three girls' hands, or performing complicated tumbling runs. I understand that many people feel cheer isn't a sport (and I'm biased, having once worked at a cheer magazine — no, I was never a cheerleader myself), such as the Women's Sports Foundation. But actually, quite a few states categorize it as a sport, meaning it gets the same funding considerations, practice facilities, coach training, and competition requirements as other sports. Some colleges are starting to follow suit. You want to pick on something non-feminist? Try dance teams, or pro sports "cheer" teams (just glorified dance teams), but leave real cheerleaders alone.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:32 am
All - thank you very much for your comments/answers. I am from Holland originally, as you know very much "the home of the free" :-)
I am not a prude. But I have always thought that cheerleading, no matter how athletically skilled, is in its essence based on a sexist POV of women. In the same league as majorette's, or pit babes at car races. I think it also potentially plays to the "you have to be skinny and athletic and fit" image for young women, which is a very thorny subject as we all know (Unilever only yesterday announced a total ban on skinny models for all of their marketing campaigns).
I know that there are male cheerleaders (although, from what I have seen, they are not wearing thongs or skimpy outfits, but trainers). I also do not deny that cheerleading undoubtedly requires skills on par with perhaps gymnastics. It is the image/portrayal of cheerleading women, and using them as an aspiration/rolemodel that I find out of touch in today's society.